Holt's work inThailandThailand
began in 1975

In 2017, more than 8,200 children and families in Thailand received critical support.

Despite widespread economic growth over the past decade, many children and families in Thailand still experience great poverty. Many of the families excluded from the country's growing prosperity are migrants, minorities, refugees, single-parent families and families impacted by HIV. While some live in or near Bangkok, many of the vulnerable children and families Holt serves with you in Thailand live in very rural areas. In partnership with Holt Sahathai Foundation — a prominent and well-respected provider of child welfare services — we empower these vulnerable families with the resources and opportunity they need to stay together, and seek permanent, loving families for children who have been orphaned or abandoned.

Family Strengthening Programs

In an attempt to develop and industrialize many rural areas of Thailand, the government has converted large sections of Thailand's agricultural land into manufacturing facilities — destabilizing communities, and stripping families of their land and livelihood. For these families, community support and vocational training are now more important than ever. For families in Thailand without stable income or the ability to meet all of their children's needs, generous sponsors and donors provide for their most basic needs, and empower them to reach lasting stability.

Infant Formula

In the communities Holt serves in Thailand, sponsors and donors provide nutritional support for newborn infants in the form of infant formula. As they often have to work to provide for their families — or are overcoming malnutrition themselves — the mothers in this program find it difficult or impossible to breastfeed. To ensure infants and toddlers receive the vital nutrition they need at this critical time of growth and development, Holt provides monthly supplies of a nutrient-dense powdered infant formula. For so many families, this formula delivery prevents them from feeding their child unhealthy substitutes like sweetened condensed milk, which can mean the difference between an overweight or stunted child and a child who is both healthy and developmentally on track.

Education

Educating families about the importance of formal education is one of the first and most critical steps for HSF social workers. Throughout Thailand, but especially in rural areas, many adults have not completed their grade school education. As a result, some parents don't see the value in sending their children to school, especially their daughters. But even if they do, families living in poverty face many hurdles to providing a basic education for their children, including a high cost of tuition, school supplies, and the requirement that children have three different school uniforms — one for everyday wear, one for physical education and one that is cultural. But when matched with a sponsor whose monthly donations cover the cost of these essentials, children can overcome these hurdles — starting in preschool, and sometimes continuing on to higher education at a university.

Support Groups

Wherever Holt-sponsored children and families live in Thailand, community support groups are a critical part of their development. HSF social workers facilitate support groups on parenting young children, parenting twins and triplets, for teen parents, families living with HIV/AIDS, foster families, families who like gardening, for children who like sports or art or books — whatever situation a family is in, or whatever interests their children have, there is a place for them to learn and belong. Some groups are peer-led, giving parents the opportunity to lead their friends and neighbors. And as places of community, accountability and learning, they provide a space for parents to discuss their struggles and take encouragement from one another. After each group, HSF provides a nutritious meal for families and children socialize with each other and build healthy friendships. Together, families strive to achieve self-sufficiency, overcome poverty and to create a safe and healthy community for their children.

Trust Savings Groups

Throughout Bangkok and southern Thailand, HSF initiates "trust savings groups" to help struggling families achieve financial stability. As traditional means of income such as rice farming or other agricultural work are traded for manufacturing jobs due to the government's development initiatives, and families are pressured to move from the country to the city, many find themselves without sustainable work or income. More than ever, it is important for families to know and practice good money management. In trust savings groups, families learn to save their earnings, pool their money to invest in bulk or community items, and work towards their financial goals. In doing so, families also create community with one another and build a stable and bright future for their children.

Livestock

For many families in Thailand, livestock is an invaluable commodity. Most commonly raised among families we serve in Thailand are chickens or ducks, which provide protein-rich eggs and meat for growing children. Some families also raise fish, most commonly catfish, first in small concrete tubs and then in ponds on their property once the fish are grown. Extra eggs, chicks and fish can be sold to neighbors or at the market for a profit. Children often take care of the animals — giving them a chore that is not only fun, but also teaches responsibility.

Gardening

Whether a family lives in the city or an outlying rural area, we encourage them to start a family garden. Organically grown fruits and vegetables provide children with the vital nutrients they need, and families save money that they would have otherwise spent at the market. Families have found that a thriving garden can cut their food expenses by 40 percent! What's more, gardening becomes an activity the entire family can enjoy together. Either in a well-tended plot of land, or in large pots outside of their city home, families are growing peppers, corn, rice, mushrooms, carrots, lemongrass and other nutritious food. Gardening empowers families in Thailand to improve their health, earn an income, and achieve greater self-reliance.

Individualized Intervention

In the communities where Holt works in Thailand, the wellbeing of not just sponsored children, but every child, is closely monitored by our partner staff. At partnering schools, teachers are trained to screen each child's health and educational needs. If a teacher finds that a child needs extra medical, nutritional, emotional or educational resources, they can connect the child and his or her family with a social worker who will ensure that the child's family is equipped and empowered to meet whatever needs the child may have.

Tha Sala Learning Center

On three and a half acres in southern Thailand, Holt Sahathai Foundation's Tha Sala Learning Center is a beautiful garden refuge where children and families learn, work and play together. There are too many fruits and vegetables here to count, but among the produce they grow are mango, rose apple, mangosteen, mushroom, sugar cane, pineapple, corn, rambutan and cucumber. Sprinkled throughout the flowing garden plots are obstacle course-like learning activities for children to participate in as they learn about planting, tending and harvesting their garden. This knowledge empowers families to then garden and provide fresh food for themselves. All Holt-supported children and families in southern Thailand, as well as the greater community of schools and neighboring families, are invited to learn and participate in special events at Tha Sala Learning Center

Family & Pregnancy Counseling

Every year, HSF supports over 200 women who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. Many women first reach out to HSF through a 24/7 support hotline. An HSF social worker may then meet with her, connect her with safe housing resources, and provide pregnancy counseling as she decides whether to parent her child or make an adoption plan. A strong stigma against single mothers and their children endures in Thailand, and many women may also receive counseling to help them cope with discrimination. About 80 percent of the women who have received HSF's support ultimately decide to parent, and many continue to receive ongoing support as they work to independently provide for their children. If a woman decides to make an adoption plan, HSF will walk her through the process and work to find a permanent, loving family for her child in Thailand or the U.S.

Orphan Care Programs

In partnership with Holt Sahathai Foundation, Holthelped initiate the practice of foster care for orphaned and abandoned children in Thailand. Today, most children who come into HSF's care in Thailand stay with one of our highly trained foster families. But whether a child is in foster care or living in a care home, we strive ensure they receive the best care possible as we work to reunite them with their birth family, or seek for them a loving, adoptive family.

Foster Care

In 1976, Holt helped pioneer foster care in Thailand. In the years since, HSF's model of foster care has remained the standard and example as the government and other non-governmental child welfare agencies have implemented large-scale foster care programs for the country's orphaned and vulnerable children. A more nurturing alternative to institutional care, foster care provides a loving home for children while they await adoption or to rejoin their families, once they have regained a stable footing. In foster care, children receive the one-on-one attention so critical to their development and to fostering healthy emotional attachments. At any given time, over 100 children live with HSF's 100 foster families. Foster families receive a monthly delivery of infant formula, baby supplies and a childcare subsidy from HSF. They also attend monthly foster parent education trainings while children have supervised time with their birth parents. Most children remain in foster care for about one year, after which time on average half of them reunite with their birth families, and half wait to join a loving adoptive family.

Orphanage Partnerships

HSF partners with the Pakkred Babies' Home in Bangkok, a facility that cares for 300 children. To ensure that each child receives the critical one-on-one attention necessary for healthy development and attachment, HSF coordinates for 150 volunteers to play and interact with the children on a regular basis.

Advocacy

For over 40 years, Holt Sahathai Foundation has set the example for best practices in orphan care for private and public child care institutions throughout the country. Whether it's initiating projects to help children with special needs become available for adoption, piloting foster care as the primary method of care for orphaned or abandoned children, providing technical support for child welfare trainings in both governmental and non-governmental sectors, placing volunteers in orphanages to improve quality of care for children, or developing specialized training for foster parents of children who have HIV, our goal is to ensure the highest level of care for children throughout Thailand.

International Adoption

Read about the children waiting for families, eligibility, fees and more.

International Adoption

Read about the children waiting for families, eligibility, fees and more.

A Message from Thoa Bui
Vice President of South and Southeast Asia

While Thailand is considered quite developed in comparison to other countries in South and Southeast Asia, there is still a huge population of vulnerable children and families who struggle every day. In my travels to Thailand, I've seen how families, especially in rural areas, struggle to meet their children's most basic needs such as food and education. In rural Thailand, most families rely on limited income from farming or fishing. And social stigma for single mothers contributes greatly to the level of vulnerability for their children — increasing the risk of abandonment and relinquishment. For these children, we focus on finding permanent, loving families either in Thailand or the United States. To strengthen families on the verge of separation, we work with Holt Sahathai Foundation to offer life-changing services such as educational and nutritional support, gardening training, temporary foster care for displaced children, counseling for young mothers, community-based support groups and financial accountability education. Ultimately, these services help strengthen struggling families and keep children with their birth families. But this is only possible because of the generous individuals who also have a heart for these vulnerable children and families in Thailand. Please contact me about how you can be involved in this meaningful work.